365 days with Walther PPQ Navy SD

Nestor

Nestor

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During the next year, or maybe a little bit longer, I'll be sharing with You Guys my observations about Walther PPQ that I bought off EE a while ago. Pistol was just test fired only (5 rounds) by the previous owner and after initial inspection I have to agree with that statement. I'm not going to sell You some BS - if this piece will jam or have any other problems - You'll be the first to know about that. It came in the plastic box with two magazines, three different backstraps clearly marked as S, M, L at the bottom, magazine loader and test target. Manual is missing, but there is no problem to find one on-line.





Fit and finish are excellent - not really a surprise taking into account the fact that Walther is the top tier, German handgun maker. Factory is located in Ulm and markings "MADE IN GERMANY" are clearly visible. There is a bit of rattle though between slide and frame when You shake it and there is a little play between them as well - especially if You'll grab the slide up front. I'll go thru construction/finish/sights details and my initial impressions soon.
For now take a look at short video picturing some of the tests done on PPQ by the members of Greek Special Forces:


For some of You interested in my older review of Ruger SR9 here is the link:
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...5-365-days-with-Ruger-SR9?highlight=Ruger+SR9

Thanks and talk to You soon!
 
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I've seen this movie before.

Lets see if this one goes the full 365 days. ;) I really enjoyed the one I owned for a few months. Fantastic trigger.
 
Great gun but to small for my hands :( I got bit by the mag during mag changes and my thumbs road the slide with my high grip style :(
 
The slide lock is more sensitive then you would think to thumb pressure while shooting but once you get used to that there is not much to dislike.
I really like the paddle mag release.
 
Back to the factory.

From this article:

http://www.gunsandammo.com/reviews/new-wave-walther-walther-ppq-review/

In Ulm each CNC machine operator has a full set of gauges, and the blueprints posted, to make the part he’s working on. He doesn’t need to wait for an inspector to tell him afterward that his parts are in spec. He knows before he sends them on to the next guy.
One of the attributes of computer-controlled machining is that the operator can make parts to exacting precision and not have to hand-fit them. Well, Walther takes that a step further. Assembler is sitting at his bench with a bin of slides on one side and a bin of barrels on the other. He would snatch out a slide, grab a barrel and check for fit. If he didn’t like the way it would pop in and out of battery, he’d pull it out of the slide and set it on his bench. He’d try another, or a barrel off the bench, until he had one fitting the way he liked. Then he’d put that assembled slide and barrel on a frame and check striker movement with a special gauge. After adjusting things, he’d then cycle and dry-fire it until it felt “proper.” Then, and only then, would it go into the “done” rack.
With a PPQ you get the benefits of old-school and the digital age combined—computer-machining and hand-fitting.
The slide, frame and barrel are all serial-numbered. How can he build a PPQ, then? Simple: The serial number isn’t applied until after everything has gone together. You see, the steel’s so hard, it would rapidly destroy any marking dies, so the markings all have to be laser-cut. The proofhouse of Ulm is cool with that, and there’s a full-time inspector in the Walther plant to keep an eye on things. Tradition cannot be denied, however, and the polymer frame of each pistol is stamped with the appropriate proofmark.
In addition to being inspected and proof-fired, each Walther pistol is test-fired for accuracy and zero, and each target is packed with its pistol. Interesting.

Back to the pistol and my own review now.
The PPQ’s slide features flat-bottomed serrations in front and in the back that provide a very good gripping surface even with sweaty hands (my biggest complain with older Glock 3 Gen).



The front of the square trigger guard has similar horizontal serrations, and the top of the slide is serrated to reduce glare in the similar way to CZ line of pistols.





The front of the frame has a tactical rail for mounting a light or laser. It looks a bit fragile, especially after taking the pistol apart and looking at the rail from inside the frame.



The ambidextrous slide release is surprisingly long but not overly bulky.

 
Grip feels very natural. I have quite a long fingers and so far M backstrap works just fine. Texture is nice, not as nice like on H&K P30 which feels like sandpaper, but still very nice and grippy. Walther calls its Cross-Directional Textured Tactical Grip. Whatever...it looks like this.



Magazine release is ambidextrous in form of small paddle located on both sides of the trigger guard. It's fairly stiff for now and trick to it is to engage it with the middle finger of your shooting hand. It actually can be accomplish fairly quickly with a little bit of practice. No grip change will be required then.

Pistol is light - 693 grams (24.4 ounces) unloaded with the empty magazine in.



Glock 22 that I own in the same condition weights 730 grams (25.75 ounces). To be continued...
 
Most consistently accurate plastic pistol (along with P99) I've ever shot. The HK P30 is equal in accuracy but I find the trigger on the PPQ more conducive to consistent accuracy in my hands. I shoot better with the PPQ than I do with HKP7M8. It's equal in accuracy to some 9mm 1911's Don Williams customized for me, at less than half the cost.

Overall, a superb pistol.
 
Looks awesome. I recently bought a SIG P239, but was also considering a PPQ navy. I guess I'll have to own both.

Side note, there is one scene in the video thats a little ridiculous. At 3:46, the guy (probably the Walther rep) takes the gun out the cooler, and when he picks it up, he "wipes" away the ice cubes in a super dramatic manner. As if 2cu.in. ice cubes where hard to get off the gun or something. I thought that looked really stupid.
 
Video is corny, but I'm very happy with my PPQ. Guys with P30's were saying what a nice gun they thought the PPQ was.

Nice for IPSC too because it is always the same trigger pull (don't have to start in DA mode) and no safety to disengage.
 
I have to admit - I'm not a fan of any "torture" tests as I'm finding them rather stupid, but I posted that video to make my thread a little bit more drama oriented :)
On a side note - I always wanted H&K - either USP...or lately P30L, but to be perfectly honest - this pistol seems to be of the very similar quality with much more affordable price tag attached.
 
Anyone notice the part where one SOF Greek is shooting ballons from the hands of a second guy? Impressive, if a lot stupid. I fail to see how this rather unsafe display improves training. Imagine the loss if a expensively trained SOF operator had to retire after losing a hand. Stupid.
 
The finish on the pistol is Tenifer. It suppose to prevent most every-day wear or scratches and of course rust and corrosion as well, even in salty environments.
Pistol comes equipped with the steel sights with phosphor 3-dot. These dots are big and...wow they glow like crazy! Just look at the pictures - PPQ next to G22 with Trijicon night sights. Yes, these sights do require some source of light to glow, so these are not for everyone...









Large extractor is located at the rear right side of the ejection port. There is a loaded chamber indicator in the form of red rectangle visible at the rear of the extractor once the round is loaded.
Slide contains the barrel and recoil spring. The latter is captive on a polymer guide rod that is blue at the rear and black up front.
Disassembly is EXACTLY like with your Glock pistol, so there is no need to repeat all that here.





This version called Navy has the firing pin made of heavier, stronger material. It uses an extra power striker spring and is guided so that it can strike primers with force even if the firing pin channel is completely flooded.
The firing pin also has a channel to allow water to pass through it - You can probably see it on one of the pictures. Threaded barrel is ready for a silencer...well, in theory at least.



The mag well is very narrow and of course, I must consider this since I want to play the gun games. There is very little bevel up front in the mag well and one has to practice mag changes often to stay proficient.
Under stress, I can easily see this being a potential issue. Something to consider.



I'll be going to the range tomorrow. More info to follow soon...
 
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Back from the short visit at the range.
Pistol wasn't cleaned or lubricated. I just took it out of the box and started shooting. That thing is vicious.
Right off the bat I started seeing one hole groups at 7-10 meters. I've been reading people's complains about the recoil and muzzle jump with this pistol, but it's not my experience with 115 grains Remington FMJ. Very soft shooter. Amazing accuracy - probably mostly because of the trigger. Smooth, crisp with crazy short reset. Actually on a few occasions I fired double taps unintentionally, before I figured out how the trigger works. Seriously - with a little bit of practice You can start making triple taps with PPQ. I was right about the magazine well though - You need to train the magazine replacement thing - I'm finding it fairly difficult due to very narrow magazine well. Magazine release paddle is still pretty stiff, so I'm going to work on it every evening for a while. Also, the thread protector on the barrel is getting lose after every 20-30 rounds, so next time I'll take it off. Never had a pistol with the threaded barrel before, so I can't comment if this is normal or not. Positive ejection at about 4 o'clock. No issues whatsoever. 100% after the first 100 rounds. Fun!
 
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